Saturday, May 12, 2007

Review the six degrees!

I think it´s time we review the six degrees of separation statement/axiom/theorem, don´t you?

I mean, what year was that formulated? It came out of an experiment, right? Hmm...let´s see.

Ok, here´s what Wikipedia says. Apparenty the experiment was carried out in 1967 and then again in 2001. In the latter, the conclusion was that six degrees is an average, not a maximum.

Anyways, my point is that the connectedness we´re achieving by means of technology should lower this number in the next decade or so, at least to 4. What do you think?

Too many...



Inspired on this post by Nick Smith.

Reengineer


I bought this Wacom Graphire4 tablet and have been practicing drawing on it. At first it´s harder than drawing on paper but then you start getting the feel of it and discovering features, etc. The previous post was drawn on it too.

This is my modern version of ¨So much ado about nothing¨...

Sunday, May 06, 2007

So loooong...


The facts are: more and more people get divorced each year and people are losing faith in marriage/life-long relationships. There were 14,000 divorce cases in Puerto Rico in 2006 (25,000 people got married). Spain is the EU member in which marriages last longer, an ¨astonishingly¨ 13.8 years.

Why? Why do we make the difficult decision to spend the rest of our lives with another person and then fail miserably in so many cases? Is there a way we could save the drama? Let it be clear that I´ve never been married, let alone been in a relationship that lasted more than 8 months. But I think a good way to analyze this is in terms of goals and outcome.

Think of the many times you´ve heard somebody say ¨I´m ready to settle, at this time in MY life, finding a partner for the rest of MY life is what I need.¨ Their GOAL is to spend the rest of their life with someone (mistakingly identified with marriage). The outcome is very likely to be a STRIIIIIKEEE 1!! after a few years.

Now ask a couple that´s been together for, say, 30 years. Ask them ¨how do you do it?¨ You´ll get an answer that talks about them living for the other person, loving the other person everyday is the goal. As a result (OUTCOME), they´ve been able to spend their lives together.

How about changing the approach to marriage from the mindset of ¨I want to spend the rest of my life with someone, let´s go out and find her¨ to ¨I want to make someone happy that will make me happy, and as a result spend the rest of our lives together¨? Make the other person´s happiness your goal, and find someone with the same intention.

This is another smallapproachtothebigpicture. What´s yours?

Tuesday, May 01, 2007

Time...Laif



So this gets a bit personal Today. It´s about not being aware that THIS is the only moment we have.

It´s funny: everyone who goes through a near death experience always says how it changed their perspective on life, and how they try to live to the fullest, enjoying each minute.
It´s even funnier how all of us that haven´t gone through it don´t even bother to try.

Someone said Today ¨...it´s only noon, I wish it was 5 pm already¨ and I started counting the many times I´ve said that too, and wondering if that´s what we´re here for: Longing for moments of joy while living (dying) through the ¨rest of the time¨. Obviously not. I´ve got the ¨what¨ clear. Now, ¨how¨ not fall into that?

Maybe this helps: Today is the only day of your life. I think I read it somewhere, so my thankful apologies to whoever said it so wonderfully. How many things would you regret not having done (mainly because you kept putting them off) if you died in two days?

I bet that´s an exercise the people that´ve gone through a near death experience have done, either at the time or after.

¨One Day Life¨ was the name of the band I played drums in back in Spain. The band was named so because (this is how we would explain it): our songs are about life in general; life is condensed into 1 CD; what if you could condense all life into One Day?

Well, Today I realized the real reason is because your life is only one day long: Today. And back in the day I used to play guitar too, which I enjoyed very much. I´ve been willing to pick up a guitar and start playing again for months! but for a few stupid reasons still haven´t done it. So Today I went, bought one, and played and played and played (yes, my fingers are yelling at me...). And it felt great. Can´t wait to be able to play Jack Johnson and sing along.

I think this is all related to the idea of ¨flow¨, ¨embrace the chaos¨, etc. The Smashing Pumpkins said it better back in 1993:

¨Today is the greatest
day I´ve ever known
can´t live for tomorrow
Tomorrow´s much too long¨

And that´s another smallapproachtothebigpicture, another way of living a gud laif.
Enjoy :-)

The text in the picture is a haiku I wrote back in eighth grade, somehow I always remember it.

Monday, April 23, 2007

Fluffy


Here´s to ¨I want to look beautiful but I don´t know why...oh wait, I do...because that´s what´s expected.¨

Name your insecurities....then kill them.

Sunday, April 22, 2007

Nowhere Path


Inspired by Incubus´ song ¨Nowhere Fast¨.

Some lyrics:

Will I ever get to where it is that I am going?
Will I ever follow through with what I, what I had planned?
...
Will I ever get to where I'm going?
If I do, will I know when I'm there?

Do you have a vision for your life and a way to get there (other than ¨live everyday....carpe diem...bla bla bla)? Is what you do on a daily basis ALIGNED with it? I think this is one of the simplest ideas to articulate yet most difficult things to execute. What do you think?

Saturday, April 21, 2007

20 extra minutes

You call a company to demand a service. They´re open from 9am to 5 pm. It´s 5.02 pm and already nobody answers the phone. Result: you think ¨these lazy people drop the pen at 5.00 and they don´t care. I´m sure they´re still around and don´t pick up cause I´m 2 minutes late...¨ The ¨go the extra mile for our customers¨ attitude is nowhere to be seen.

If I were responsible for customer service, I´d pay the receptionist or whomever it is that answers the phone in the first place 10 minutes of overtime before and after business hours to be there and make sure those ¨borderline¨ calls are properly attended. I believe it exemplifies the customer-centric attitude it is talked about so much (¨we´re not just here from 9 to , we´re here for you¨). Plus, those ¨borderline¨ calls are usually very important.

What do you think?

Friday, April 20, 2007

Predecir el tiempo

Dicen los expertos que nunca vamos a poder predecir el tiempo con exactitud (teoría del caos, etc.). Lo interesante de todo esto es cómo interacciones en apariencia insignificantes pueden tener una influencia determinante en el ¨macro¨. El ejemplo de cómo el batir de alas de una mariposa puede influir en las corrientes de aire de la otra parte del mundo es clásico. Hoy me enteré de otro.

Resulta que el plancton, ese microorganismo de 1 milímetro de ancho que vive en el agua, ayuda a regular la temperatura de la Tierra. ¿Cómo? Este es el proceso:

La Tierra se calienta
El océano se calienta
Los migroorganismos se ¨excitan¨ y se aparean
Al aparearse liberan DMS (di-metil sulfitos)
El DMS se evapora y provoca condensación
Las nubes blancas tapan parte de los rayos de Sol
La temperatura de la Tierra baja.
En hechos como este se fundamenta la ¨Hipótesis de Gaia¨, de Lovelock, que afirma que la biomasa regula las condiciones las condiciones del planeta para hacer la vida más hospitalaria a las especies que aquí habitan (mos) (pena que algunasa especies nos empeñemos en hacer lo contrario).

Por eso, entre otras cosas ¨hay una parte de la realidad que se nos escapa¨. En este caso lo que nos permite predecir el tiempo.

Prueba a hacer una analogía con:
- Tierra = empresa,
- Plancton = interacciones entre empleados, mercado etc. (lo de aparearse no va ;-)

y luego mira si tiene sentido la cultura de ¨command and control management¨...mejor dejar que el Gaia se ocupe.

Wednesday, April 11, 2007

Promote slavery


hmm.....Why is it that we want to climb the corporate ladder?

1. Self-realization through ¨inspiring¨ people to execute tactical plans. Hhmmm...nope, they come from high up and they´ve metamorphosed from strategic plans that you´d never want to know how were conceived. Besides, you don´t agree with most of them. Deep inside you think they´re unimplementable.

2. Self-realization through ¨acquiring more responsibility¨ and being able to manage a unit/division/etc. Hhmmm....nope, this involves too many counter creative administrative tasks even robots would go on strike to avoid.

3. Self-realization through ¨being exposed to different roles so I can acquire new skills¨. Hhmmmm.....yeah, whatever.

4. Self-realization through driving a company car, using a corporate credit card and cell phone.
We´re getting there.

5. Got anything better? Please.

How about not climbing the corporate ladder?

Infatuation

Infatuation:
1. an object of extravagant short-lived passion
2.
foolish and usually extravagant passion or love or admiration
Synonim: Puppy love.


Here´s to: ¨It´s not you....it´s me¨.

I was thinking about it today and it made me laugh. Got any comments / thoughts / rants you want to share?

Monday, April 09, 2007

The truth II

Following the track of coincidence I arrived at this post and wanted to share it. The entire blog is worthy of reading (I know someone in Venezuela who will love to discover it) but this particular one...

¨This little willingness to know 'What Is' is enough. It does the rest for us. It knows it's own way into our conscious awareness and asks only that we give it welcome. In fact, by trying to add more we take away the little that is asked. We don't need to learn or practice anything or change at all, just come with empty hands and see. It is totally trustworthy.
We are perfect exactly as we are. So no more looking for answers and let's come see for ourselves instead.¨

It´s funny how the attitudes that work in life work also in business but we turn our backs on them. When was the last time you attended a meeting/sales presentation/contract negotiation where everyone brought this attitude?
  • willingness to know versus fear of not knowing
  • open mind and common goal versus (hidden) agendas
  • trust versus suspicion
...and we still wonder why we can´t get things done and aren´t happy at work.

Saturday, April 07, 2007

I go out at night...II

Almost forgot:


Friday, April 06, 2007

I go out at night...

The truth


Happy Easter...better yet, wish you an Easter of revelation and better understanding of YOUR own truth. A friend of mine was meditating on the idea of ¨the truth shall make you free¨ and he arrived at this conclusion: ¨you will know your truth, and YOUR truth will make you free¨.

That I wish you.

Someone already paid the price so that we wouldn´t have to live with fear (of failure, of change...of the future), with guilt or in the past.


From Mihaly Csikszentmihaly´s book ¨Flow: The psychology of optimal experience¨

Those who seek consolaation in existing churches often pay for their peace of mind with a tacit agreement to ignore a great deal of what is known about the way the world works.

be gud. live laif.

Wednesday, April 04, 2007

God´s copyright part II


Goodbye DRM. Thanks Enrique for the link.


Or as my good atheist friend Luís would put it: It´s all the Universe´s property.

Saturday, March 31, 2007

Paradox


A paradox:

To paraphrase Prof. Srikumar Rao: put a 100% into what you do, desire it with passion and be 100% ready to move on if the outcome is not what you expected; that´s where happiness/success lies.

The more you want something and the more you accept the outcome whatever it turns out to be, the more likely it is that you´ll get it. Not to be confused with not giving a damn and just doing stuff.
In other words, make ¨k=0¨ in your internal resort. The higher ¨k¨, the more work you need to do in order to move from 1 to 2 and the least probable it is you´ll get there.

or

FLOW.

UPDATE: Looking for inspiration? Read Evelyn Rodriguez´s latest post (...or her entire lent series, for that matter):

¨Lots of decaying slices of our life will be sloughing away during these accelerating times of the Springtime. If you haven't noticed this already, you may be trying to hold on to the dead and stagnant. It's your choice, but a fair warning that it could be detrimental to hold on to the wreckage.¨

Make k=0.

Friday, March 30, 2007

Meritocracy

Here´s to insecurity...


...and misalignment between value-added and the definition of success.

Re-engineer

Egolatry


...is the modern-personal religion. Marx wasn´t that far off.
;-)